Green Bharat Summit: India must accelerate EV shift or risk losing global market, says Amitabh Kant

Amitabh Kant urges India to ramp up EV production or fall behind

Amitabh Kant, the former CEO of NITI Aayog, has stressed on the need for India to step up its electric vehicle (EV) game, saying the country lagged global leaders such as China and was “selling typewriters in a digital age”.

"China is more than 50 percent EVs, Europe is at 10 percent and India is just 2 percent," Kant said at the Green Bharat Summit in New Delhi on December 13, stressing the need for India to accelerate its EV adoption.

India should aim for 60 percent EVs by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035 to remain competitive, the former chief of the government’s think tank said.

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"We are five years behind the curve, and disruption will be rapid in the next five to six years," he said. "We are selling typewriters in a digital age," and that India must adapt quickly to avoid losing market share.

The Indian auto sector employs around 34 million people but with the tech shift, India risks losing out unless it moves swiftly, he said.

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Kant also mentioned the government’s automobile production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, launched in 2021, saying "not a single penny has been used" under the scheme. "The focus should be on scaling up EV production, not just looking at numbers," he said.

He called on the government to leverage its position as a friendly nation to the US and benefit from global tariff impositions on China.

Kant praised Indian start-ups for taking the lead in EV innovation. "At least on two-wheelers, there are 1,432 startups but if you left it to legacy players, it could have been very different," he said. This shift in the industry is an "entrepreneur issue" and that manufacturers should have ramped up production much earlier.

For India to become a global leader in the EV market, Kant called for bold, immediate action, both from the government and the industry. "10X more needs to be done," he added.